A study of Blended Learning on Character Reading and Writing by the Learners of Non-Chinese-Character Backgrounds

• Main Authors: Hung Pei-Ti, 洪沛緹
• Other Authors: Zhang Yu-Xin
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2013
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/35283617341456312088

碩士 === 中國文化大學 === 華語文教學碩士學位學程 === 101 === Abstract One of the biggest challenges for beginning learners of Chinese as a Second Language is traditional Chinese characters. Finding efficient methods to teach characters to beginners is therefore an important research topic in the field of TCSL. This study focuses on integrating blended e-learning to the character curriculum for learners who study characters after having achieved an intermediate level of oral proficiency. We conducted a quasi-experimental study with eight learners who came from Europe and the United States. They have studied three months Chinese in Taiwan. After the pilot study, we recruited six learners who came from Mexico, South Africa, Indonesia, and Vietnam to conduct our study . And they have studied nine months Chinese in Taiwan. A total of 30 lecture hours over a 12 week period were given to learners covering 211 traditional Chinese characters. The learners of this study came from results show that blended learning: (1) It increases learners’ character recognition and writing ability. (2)Most of them can communicate with others on Facebook in Chinese. (3)Let learners feel interesting in Chinese characters. (4) The learners hope to continue sharing characters knowledge and information on Facebook after we have done our course. The results from weekly test and in-depth interviews indicated that learners found this type of learning let them feel that characters were not as difficult as they first imagined. Keywords: Blended learning, Traditional Chinese character recognition, Traditional Chinese character writing, Facebook, Themebased teaching approach